8.13.2008

Rock music and comic books have a lot of things in common than people think. The foremost is that both serve as mediums for venting disdains against an oppressive force. Secondly, all who partake in both sub-cultures are blackballed by the norm, often stereotyped as outcasts and miscreants.

That's why you'll find plenty of personalities in the rock biz that are into comics. Artists like Kirk Hammett, who chose collecting comics over doing drugs, Andy Hurley, of Fall Out Boy, who was seen loitering in the Wizard World Chicago Convention and Scott Ian, who admittedly said he'd be writing comics if he wasn't in Anthrax.

While most rock artists are only avid readers and collectors of comic books, these five men are even more passionate about comics that they have gone beyond reading and collecting.

5. Sebastian Bach (Skid Row)Bach's house, as it was featured on MTV Cribs, is a comic-book haven. Not only do he have a fireproof safe for his comics, he also got comic-related toys even in his bathroom. But the reason why he's holding the fifth spot is that he can't stop talking about comics. I've seen him host a couple of shows for VH1, shows that are in no way related to comics. But he'd really try his best to find a way and interject comics into the topic. He'll also do the same thing on interviews, like a true comic aficionado would.

4. John Dolmayan (System of a Down and Scars on Broadway)Dolmayan, the kick-ass drummer of System of a Down, have been furiously collecting comics. At one point, he even accumulated five and a half-million comics. Insane, you say? Well, not really since he needed that much to open his online comic book store, Torpedo Comics. But what really got him into the number four spot is because he pimped his white Tama drum kit with art of comic book characters. That was one impressive looking drum kit.

3. Gerard Way (My Chemical Romance)Way decided to pursue a career in the comic-industry after finishing high school, and took Fine Arts in college. But he never got into it until last year (2007) when he wrote a comic book, an Eisner Award winning comic book, entitled The Umbrella Academy. It's probably one of the best limited series of comics that's out now. It's bizarre and funny. Way did a really good job on it, like you wouldn't expect that it was written by a frontman of an emo punk band, and that's why he sits on the third spot.

2. Claudio Sanchez (Coheed and Cambria)Like Gerard Way, Claudio Sanchez also wrote a well-received sci-fi comic book, The Amory Wars. But unlike The Umbrella Academy, Sanchez's comics is connected to his band's music. In fact, each of their albums corresponds to a chapter in his comics. Plus, his band's name, Coheed and Cambria, are also the name of the two protagonists in his story. While I like The Umbrella Academy better than The Amory Wars, it's just great that both music and comics were used by Sanchez to tell a fantastic story.

1. Glenn Danzig (The Misfits, Samhain, and Danzig)Long before The Misfits and Danzig, Glenn Danzig was also an aspiring comic-book writer and worked at a comic book store in nearby New York. Now, he owns Verotik, a comic book company that publishes violent and erotic themed comics. He also writes for some of his company's titles such as Death Dealer and Jaguar God. While his comics aren't my cup of tea, he deserves the number one spot for life-long dedication to comics and owning a comic book company.

Well, that's my list of top 5 rockers who are also living a double life as comic-book nerds. Hopefully, I didn't miss anybody. If I did, however, please let me know.

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Nuclear Medicine is having a dry spell as of late. As a result, I couldn't get a job in the field. So, for the meantime, I'm content of being a lesser wage slave and just distracted myself with games, books, comics, music and other geeky things. Hopefully, this spell blows over before I realize it.